Many diseases are transmitted by viruses or bacteria in the air, i.e. airborne viruses or bacteria. Airborne bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms are a common cause of diseases or ailments, particularly in the human respiratory system. Examples of airborne viruses include measles, influenza (flu), smallpox and chickenpox. Examples of airborne bacterial diseases include tuberculosis, bacterial meningitis and pneumonia. Another example of an air-carried disease is Legionnaires disease where the bacterium is carried in water droplets which are inhaled by a human whilst showering.
An influenza epidemic in the 15th century in Europe had an almost 20% mortality rate. In the 19th century, influenza killed over 25 million people in Spain. Airborne diseases could only travel as first as the wind that carried them and many of the viruses or bacteria, if airborne for a long time, no longer cause harm.
In the present day and age airborne diseases can travel vast distances in favourable environmental conditions which give the viruses or bacteria the capacity to cause harm to humans for longer periods. Aircraft, trains, cars and ferries, particularly mechanisms for mass transport or public transport are designed to transport humans in comfort but, at the same time, ironically offer an excellent environment for airborne diseases to maintain their capacity for harming humans for longer, thereby facilitating the geographical spread of diseases.
Infected people or the breath they exhale are each sources by which disease can be transmitted and infected people may not necessarily be showing signs of illness, symptoms, when travelling.
During the 2003 SARS epidemic, some countries initiated temperature screening at points of entry, i.e. in airports and ferry passenger terminals. In 2001, the US Postal Service was used to send parcels containing anthrax with five people dying and many others becoming infected.
“Cavity-enhanced optical frequency comb spectroscopy: application to human breath analysis” Michael J. Thorpe, David Balslev-Clausen, Matthew S. Kirchner, and Jun Ye—Optics Express, Vol. 16, Issue 4, pp. 2387-2397 (2008)) discloses a technique for detecting molecules in human breath that may be biomarkers for diseases.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a medical device and system to detect and/or reduce the spread of diseases whether introduced naturally or artificially into the bio-environment.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a medical device to provide an alert of the potential detection of a disease in an infrastructure having a chamber of air and a geographic location, the device comprising:                one or more sample ports of known sub-location within the infrastructure, the one or more sample ports being open to a designated part of the infrastructure and a sample of air from the air chamber being operable to pass through the one or more sample ports;        a detector to receive the sample of air from a specific one of the one or more sample ports and being operable to generate molecular characteristic data for identifying diseases from the sample of air; and        a processor operable to analyse the molecular characteristic data from the sample of air; and an alert module operable to issue an alert output in response to the detection of particular molecular characteristic data from the sample of air.        
The present invention also provides a method of detecting a disease in an infrastructure having a chamber of air and a geographic location, comprising:                receiving sample air from a sample port located in a sub-location of the infrastructure;        analysing the sample air and generating molecular characteristic data of the sample air from the sub-location;        analysing the molecular characteristic data to detect particular molecular characteristic data from the sample air; and        reporting the results of the analysis together with the geographic location of the infrastructure and the sub-location from which the sample air was taken.        
The present invention further provides a device, system and method as claimed.
The present invention can be considered environmentally-friendly as it can detect diseases that are harmful to humans, other animals, plants and/or other lifeforms.